[Solved?] USB wifi adapter not working with Mageia 2 RC

[tandrews16]

Using a Dell Dimension E310 and an Encore USB wireless N adapter, model ENUWI-1XN45. The adapter uses a chip that uses the Realtec 8192CU driver. Everything worked great with Mageia 1, but I can't get it to work with the Mageia 2 RC from the Free DVD. I have installed the firmware, and MCC was able to detect my router signal and I was able to connect once. But on subsequent boots it refuses to connect.

If I check for wireless signals, I should see at least two - mine and that of my ISP. (My broadband service is provided via a "fixed wireless" system.) When I configure my connection, both are detected. But when I boot and it doesn't connect, sometimes no signals show as detected, and sometimes just my router. And most of the time when I see just my signal if I hit "Refresh" my signal will disappear, too. If I remove the interface and try to make a new one without rebooting, no signal is detected. If I reboot after removing the interface, all signals are detected, and I can configure my network again, after which it may or may not work. and if it does work, it doesn't on the next boot.

At first I tried downloading the firmware package using rpmfind.net and installing it manually to see if I could establish a wireless connection without having an Ethernet connection first. What I got is in the description above. After much frustration, I established an Ethernet connection, uninstalled the manually-loaded firmware package, got all the updates, and re-installed the firmware from the repositories. Then I attempted the wireless connection again, with the same poor results.

I have absolutely no idea where to go from here. At this point about the only thing I'm happy about is this isn't my production system.

[tandrews16]

Not a solution exactly, more of a workaround. Finally got the adapter working by installing networkmanager, stopping the "network" and "network auth" services from starting at boot, and using network manager rather than drakconnect to set up the interface. Apparently, drakx-net in Mageia 2 does not work with this device.

A bug report has been filed, and someone from the Bugsquad is looking into it.